President Trump to declare North Korea a state sponsor of terror

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump says he intends to declare North Korea a state sponsor of terror.

Trump said Monday that the designation will impose further penalties on the country. He called it a long overdue step and part of the U.S. "maximum pressure campaign" against the North.

The move returns North Korea to the list of countries the U.S. views as state sponsors of terror for the first time since 2008. That's when the North was removed in a bid to salvage a deal to halt its nuclear development.

U.S. officials cited the killing of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's estranged half brother in a Malaysian airport this year as an act of terrorism.

North Korea would join Iran, Sudan and Syria on the list of state sponsors of terror.

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